Prophecy of Imam Ali (a.s.) about the Incident of Karbala

Hasan bin Mehboob narrates from Thabit e Thumali who narrates from Suwaid bin Ghafala: One day, Amir al-Momineen (a.s.) was delivering a sermon and a man stood up near the pulpit and said: “O Amir al-Momineen! I was passing by the valley of al-Qara when I got to know that Khalid bin Arfata has died. Please pray for his forgiveness.”

Imam Ali (a.s.) said: “By God, he did not die and will not be dead until he leads a misguided army and the flag bearer for him will be Habib bin Himar.” [1]

Meanwhile, another man stood up from near the pulpit and said: “O Amir al-Momineen! I am Habib bin Himar and I am your Shia and your follower.”

Ali (a.s.) asked: You are Habib bin Himar?

He said: Yes.

Imam (a.s.) asked again: Swear in the name of God, are you Habib bin Himar?

He replied: By God, yes!

Imam (a.s.) said: I swear to the Almighty, you will bear that flag on your shoulder and will enter this mosque with that flag from that gate; and he indicated towards ‘Baab ul-Feel’.

Thabit says: I did not die until the day when I saw Ibn e Ziyad provoking Umar bin Sa’ad for fighting against Imam Hussain (a.s.); he placed Khalid bin Artafa on the front row of his army, and Habib bin Himar was his flag-bearer who entered with that flag inside the mosque from ‘Baab ul-Feel’.[2]